All that Remains
by RenegadeWaya
Summary: Remnant, a name that implies so much and hints at even more Few are those who still remember why their planet was named such. Why stories, legends and fables all seemed to find their way onto its blood soaked soil in the end. Even fewer are those who realize that their stories have ended and this was the fate that awaited them. Harry Potter is one such person.


**AN: So this fic almost literally burned a hole in my brain until I finished writing this extra-long chapter. Writing is one of my main hobbies atm so, when I get a bit tired from my main fics, I write a lot of ideas/starts of stories. I think I'm currently at sixty or so fanfic ideas and about ten original story ideas that are just chilling in my story folder.**

 **Anyways. This fic will have multi-cross elements in the form of characters and some abilities but the only main series is RWBY (+Harry Potter).**

"You know I never thought this would be what I would see when I died. A blindingly white Kings Cross and the manipulative old man who ruined my life acting like he's my personal guide to the afterlife. Give it to me straight you bastard, am I going to hell? Cause that would explain a lot of things at the moment." Harry's voice was so caustic he half expected Dumbledore to be a melted puddle after hearing it, unfortunately that didn't happen and the old fool seemed to be completely oblivious to his tone.

"No my boy, you aren't going to hell, you aren't quite dead yet you see."

Harry snarled. "First, I'm not your boy…ever. Second, I'm pretty sure getting hit by a soul destroying curse tends to kill a person… so want to explain you senile old wanker?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Must you be so antagonistic Harry my boy?"

Harry just stared at him blankly. "Yes."

"*Sigh* fine then, Harry. You are at the crossroads between life and death, thanks to the Horcrux you held and the ritual Tom used to circumvent your mother's blood protection you haven't died yet. As it is you have two options, you can choose to go back to life and lead the Wizarding World into a better age or you can board the train, leave everything behind to an uncertain fate and move on to the Next Great Adventure."

"Nice 'subtle' guilt trip there, but it's not going to work. Thanks to you I have long since lost any attachment to my life and no one left in the magical world deserves my help, they can deal with their own damn problems now. No, I'd rather move on and hope I can meet with my friends and family again, so have fun skulking around empty train stations waiting for naked teenage boys to show up for all eternity you sick bastard."

The constipated expression on Dumbledore's face was priceless and was not a half bad end to his life as Harry Potter as he boarded the train to the afterlife, or at least death. Harry did wonder why and how dumbles had been waiting for him here, he doubted there was a return ticket for this train after all, and if there was that Dumbledore of all people would **not** be able to obtain one to meet him. Unless the goal was for him to fail to persuade him to return to life, in which case well played Death, not that it was too difficult a choice. Harry's last thought before he was consumed by white light was that he hoped if his next life/afterlife would be better than his first.

* * *

"I don't want to be the Bee's Knees okay!? I don't want to be any kind of knees. I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees." A teenage girl with shortish black and red hair, silver eyes and a bright red cloak complained to her sister, a girl with long blonde hair, violet eyes and rather provocative clothes.

Harry almost snorted in humor at the comment. Little Red Riding Hood obviously wasn't normal, no one who became a hunter/huntress was normal, it kind of came with the territory of wanting to make a living fighting an endless horde of soulless monsters after all.

"What's wrong with you? Aren't you excited?" Goldilocks clearly wasn't picking up the girl's growing discomfort as they continued to attract attention with their loud conversation.

"Of course I'm excited. I just… I got moved ahead two years, I don't want people to think I'm special or anything."

Harry could sympathize with the girl's desire but it was a vain hope in the end, moving ahead two years was special no matter how you thought about it. She honestly would have done better keeping that information to herself rather than voicing it out loud to her sister as Harry wasn't the only one listening/eavesdropping on the two girl's conversation. It was hard not to since the two stood out based on appearance alone without factoring in their loud voices after all. Still he doubted even if she hadn't mentioned that fact anything would change, she **looked** like she was younger than everyone else and that wasn't something you could hide.

"But you are special." Goldilocks' words were not well received judging by little red's expression. Harry's attention was drawn away from the duo as the bullhead's video and sound system was taken over by the appearance of Beacon's deputy headmistress Glynda (the) Goodwitch.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among the privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace." Harry had to snort at that. There was no such thing as peace when the Grimm continued to push them further and further back to the main cities, and that wasn't even including the whole Faunus and White Fang issue. "and as future huntsmen and huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task and now, it is our turn to provide the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

Harry thought the little speech was rather pointless and lackluster as it served little point other than to allow some of the less refined men (and women) to ogle the hologram's cleavage. Honestly, the view was a better introduction to the school than Glynda's little speech. Everyone seemed to agree with him as well as they started to ooh and aw over the scenery, everyone, that is, except for that one blond guy who just threw up on Goldilocks… maybe he should tell her? Nah, she'll notice soon enough.

"Well… I guess the view isn't for everyone." Was her comment as she watched Vomit-boy walk off, still headless of the bile on her shoes.

"It was a nice moment while it lasted… I wonder who we're going to meet?"

"I just hope they're better than vomit boy."

Little red look like she was about to agree when she noticed what her sister was standing in. "Oh Yang Gross! You have puke on your shoe!"

"Gross, gross, gross gross."

"Get away! Get away! Get away!"

Harry had to stifle the grin that was threatening to grace his face, it wouldn't do to be caught laughing at another's misfortune, regardless of how funny it was. Not when they were a Huntress in training and likely had quite a few ways to make their displeasure at such an act known. Then again, the two's interactions were just too funny that he couldn't help but release a few chuckles. He did have to wonder if he and his sister were as funny to others when similar interactions occurred though.

Harry continued to watch the two sisters have a minor freak out session as the bullhead proceeded to pull into Beacon's air dock. It was good entertainment, especially considering the fact that the bathroom was little less than three meters away from where the two were running around. Fortunately for them they figured it out quickly once they docked and soon enough they left the ship with everyone else, passing by Vomit boy, who was still continuing to live up to his new nickname, as they went down the gangplank. Goldilocks looked like she wanted to start something with the poor kid but thought better of it as the boy continued to hurl into a trashcan, likely not wishing to brave the chance of ruining her shoes once more.

As the group of aspiring hunters walked down the path towards Beacon Harry couldn't help but find the sight appropriate, for what better place for the Wizard of Oz(pin) to reside than the Emerald City. Of course the school was mostly grey thanks to the reinforced steel and concrete it was made of but it was close enough. The architecture was inspiring, the spires and towers plentiful and the grounds inviting. But what really sold the whole Emerald City look was the tower in the center, which looked like the home of a classic storybook magician. Which meant of course that it felt like a blast to the past for Harry, though he was quick to brush the nostalgia off.

Harry made sure to stick to the back of the crowd as they walked, amusing himself watching his fellow student's reactions, especially the two sisters who were the only ones who stuck out to him at the moment. They had proven to be good entertainment on the trip here after all and he was hoping that trend would continue. It did. Little Red was absolutely adorable when she geeked out over everyone's weapons, he could almost swear he saw her eyes turn into little stars as she stared at any that crossed her line of sight. Though seeing her whip out her own weapon and started cuddling it was surprising, he thought he'd be the only scythe user here, it was incredibly rare choice of weapon after all. He'd have to seek her out at some point to compare notes, though he'd have to be careful so that little red didn't fondle his weapon too. Event Horizon was his baby and only he got to touch her like that.

Harry continued to watch the pair as Goldilocks ditched her sister, leaving Little Red visibly upset and confused, looking like a kicked puppy. He was about to make his presence known when his opportunity was stolen by the appearance of the heiress to the Schnee Dust Corporation, Snow White herself, after Little Red knocked over the girl's luggage. Her real name was actually Weiss Schnee but since that was literally German for Snow White he never called her by her real name the few times they met, especially since it seemed to annoy her. It wasn't that he didn't like her, he actually thought she was a good person actually. It was just that it was hard to see her good personality traits under the armor of bitchiness she adopted because of her childhood, which was why he liked to break her composure so often. She actually acted more like her age, and true self, when he did.

As Harry watched Weiss descend into another bitch fit while shaking an unsecured dust vial he mentally countdown as he waited for the inevitable explosion. His count was a second off but the predicted explosion did occur and Snow White now looked like she needed a name change. Harry just thanked god for Aura otherwise Weiss be extra crispy bacon right now. Harry continued to watch as Weiss threw bitch fit version 2.0 (now with extra snark) only to be put down when a rather attractive new student new student appeared and commented on her family's "stellar" reputation. Predictably Weiss stormed off in a huff after that, leaving Little Red feeling rather happy until she noticed her 'savior' walk off without another word. At this point Harry finally decided to make his entrance and hopefully improve the girl's rather depressed looking mood.

"Don't pay too much mind to Snow White, Little Red. She's a bit of a stuck up bitch thanks to the way her father raised her but she's not that bad a person once you get past that. Besides it was her own fault for not capping her Dust containers properly anyways."

"Huh? Oh thanks…" Little Red trailed off leadingly, causing Harry to give her a small smile.

"Heracles, Heracles Nikos, but I prefer to be called Harry. It's nice to meet you. And what's your name Little Red?"

"Ruby, Ruby Rose. It's uhm… nice to uh, meet you too Harry..."

Harry gave Ruby a soft smile in an attempt to calm the girl's discomfort. Ruby was clearly an introvert and being ditched by her sister only to run into Weiss of all people likely didn't help her confidence at all. Harry could sympathize.

"Relax Little Red, I'm not gona bite ya, not this soon at any rate." Harry teased. "HarJust thought I'd apologize on Snow White's behalf and make friends with someone who looked like they could use one."

"Re-Really?" Ruby was blushing slightly even as hope was shining through her eyes.

Harry just smiled at her. "Yeah, we're going to be classmates for the next four years and it wouldn't be very fun to be strangers now would it? Besides, we have something in common, we both use a scythe as our main weapon so I for one would like to be friends with someone with as good of taste in weapons as myself."

Once Harry mentioned his weapon Ruby's expression immediately cleared as she completely forgot her shyness, being much more in her comfort zone with the topic. In fact, her expression basically did a one-eighty as it could now only be described as radiant. "Really? That's so cool! Can I see your weapon? What does it turn into? What's its name? Can I hold it?"

"Haha easy there Little Red, just calm down a bit and I'll show it to you."

As Ruby visibly reined herself in Harry reached underneath his long dark green sleeveless trench coat to where his weapon was hidden. As he grabbed a hold of it he drew it in a practiced manner, activating the mechashift function to transform it into its Scythe form. Event Horizon was a fairly long weapon, with the shaft being about 20 centimeters taller than his own 185 centimeter height. The main blade was roughly 120 centimeters and curved downwards while a smaller secondary blade was on the opposite side of the shaft pointed upwards and rested at a flat 100 centimeters. Both the blades were segmented with the larger having more pieces than the smaller. The shaft and mechanical parts were a deep black color while the two blades were a purple tinted silver color. All in all, it was as beautiful a weapon as it was deadly and Ruby clearly appreciated it as much as Harry did.

"This, is Event Horizon, my baby. The main form is what you see before you and it has two other forms, a two handed sword and a shield and glaive combo. It took me a whole two years to fully design and create her, along with a large amount of money and materials but it was worth it." Pride was clear in Harry's voice as he viewed his weapon as one of his greatest achievements in both his lives.

Ruby, after she wiped away a small amount of drool, was quick to voice her feelings on his weapons. "Oh my gosh! It's so beautiful and cool!" Harry's grin grew wider at her praise. "How did you get the blade to color like that? How did you get a triple shift to work correctly? Why did you choose those forms? And why didn't you add a gun to it? Did you have trouble fitting it in? Are you still working on it? Can I help?"

"Jeez calm down there little red, I can't answer your questions if you keep asking me new ones. In short order, a very complex and unique alloy combined with special dye and forging techniques, lots of trial and error, because the forms just felt right to me, because it wouldn't have fit well, and no I'm not working on her anymore but thanks for the offer. Now how about you tell me about your baby while we walk to orientation."

"You know where to go?" Harry nodded much to Ruby's relief. "Thank goodness and that sounds great. This is Crescent Rose, she's a high caliber sniper rifle combined with a scythe, as you obviously saw. Her forms are a scythe and a pure rifle mode. I can still fire the rifle while in scythe mode as well, which I designed to better fit my fighting style. It took me three weeks of non-stop forging to complete and…"

* * *

"…and that's why Crescent Rose is so light."

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you're a spot!"

"Oh, there's my sister. I gotta go, talk to you after orientation?"

"Sure, I better find my sister too. Oh, and tell Goldilocks that it was a dick move ditching you like that for me will ya?"

"Sure…" Ruby didn't seem too sure about that but nodded anyways. It was quite adorable.

Harry continued to watch as Ruby ran up to her sister and immediately get barraged by questions that, judging by the looks her sister was shooting him, were about him. It would be interesting meeting her later when he met back up with Ruby that was for sure. He wondered if she was the type to go full over-protective sister mode or if she would try to embarrass Ruby as much as possible, maybe both? It would be interesting to find out regardless. Now, where was…

"Pyrrha! There you are."

"Harry! I couldn't find you on the Bullhead, where were you? I thought you said you would protect me from my fans, not cool bro."

Harry laughed as his sister started venting on him for his ditching her, making sure to check her over as he did so, could never tell what a crazed fangirl/boy would do after all. Pyrrha was a tall girl only a few cm shorter than himself with long red hair and identical emerald eyes as his own, she was his twin so that made since. It was actually kind of scary how closely his sister resembled his last life's mother, if Lily Potter nee Evans had been an amazon warrior at any rate. If he had actually ever known his mother, he might have realized that even their personalities were similar in some regards but alas that wasn't the case. Regardless he found nothing wrong with her and gave her a smile as he made his apologies.

"Sorry sis, was on the observation deck people watching and kind of forgot."

Pyrrha just stared at him blankly, causing Harry to laugh nervously. Luckily, before his sister could lay into him again they were interrupted by a loud cry of "You!?".

 **000000000000000**

"Soooo, how's your first day doing little sister? I see you've already got a boyfriend, and a hot one at that. Does big sis Yang need to have to break out The Speech?"

Ruby blushed crimson. "Wh-what!? No! We're just friends! Harry was just being nice and talked to me after **you** ditched me and I exploded."

"Yikes, meltdown already?"

"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school and there was some fire and ice."

Yang just stared at her. "Are you being sarcastic?"

Ruby snorted. "I wish. I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage and then she yelled at me and then I exploded and then she yelled again and I felt really, really bad and I just wanted I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!"

"You!"

Ruby literally jumped in the air in fright as Weiss Schnee appeared behind her. "Oh god it's happening again!"

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!"

Yang stared at Ruby with dull eyes. "Oh my god you actually exploded…"

Ruby looked a mix of sheepish and mortified. "It was an accident! It was an accident!"

Ruby's plea of innocence was ignored by Weiss as the Schnee heiress held out a "Dust for Dummies" pamphlet. "The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy-to-follow guide to Dust application and practice in the field."

It was clear that this was a well-rehearsed disclaimer just as it was equally clear that Ruby did not understand where Weiss was going with this, something said heiress caught.

"*Sigh* Do you really want to start making things up to me?"

"Absolutely!"

"Read this and don't ever talk to me again."

Yang, in an attempt to dispel the bad blood between the two and hopefully improve her sister's mood, tried to play peacekeeper. "Look, it sounds like you two got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friend again, okay?"

Ruby eagerly agreed to her sister's suggestion. "Yeah! Great idea sis. Hello Weiss, I'm Ruby. Want to hang out? We could go shopping for school supplies."

With a patently fake cheery face and voice Weiss eagerly responded. "Yeah! And we can paint our nails, and try on clothes and talk about cute boys like tall, dark and handsome over… You!?"

* * *

Harry turned around, wondering who was calling him out and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was Weiss. A cheesy grin forming on his face (as he knew that would piss her off) Harry walked across the room to warmly greet the heiress, Pyrrha following close behind him. "Snow White! It's been awhile. I see that you've missed me."

Weiss clearly did **not** miss him judging by the angry flush on her face, either that or she was actually the Tsundere Harry pegged her as. "Who would miss a barbarian such as yourself you, you, philistine!"

Harry adopted a mock surprised look on his face, much to his sister's amusement. "You can't possibly still be mad about the last time we met could you?"

Weiss looked like she was about to explode. "You replaced all the paintings in the art gallery with my father's underwear!"

Pyrrha lost her battle to contain her laughter at this point and Ruby's sister was quick to join her, while Ruby herself look torn between laughing, looking embarrassed and downright confused. Weiss for her part had gone critical mass and was about to lay into Harry for all she was worth, especially as he was now sporting a smug grin on his face, before she was interrupted.

"Ahem! …I'm going to make this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction." Harry couldn't help but feel Ozpin was looking at them when he said that, which was quite rude. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Well that was… an interesting welcoming speech. Still better than Dumbledore's though, and there wasn't mention of a "most painful death" either so that was a plus. He kind of missed the insane rambling bits though. Harry was knocked out of his thoughts when Professor Goodwitch started speaking as Ozpin walked off the stage.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins…Be ready. You are dismissed." With that said Goodwitch walked off the stage as well, leaving a group of confused students behind.

"…He seemed…kind of off."

Harry couldn't help but agree with Goldilocks' words.

"Yeah, it's almost like he wasn't even there." Were Ruby's thoughts on the matter.

"He probably wasn't. The Wizard of Oz seemed just a few Nargles short of a rock concert if you know what I mean." Ruby, her sister and Weiss just looked at Harry in confusion while Pyrrha just sighed. Harry's sayings/expressions had been greatly influenced by Luna in his last life, to the degree that he didn't even think about it when he used them anymore, they just came naturally. He didn't particularly mind, the expressions on people's faces when he used them were quite humorous after all.

* * *

"Isn't this great Rubes? It's like a biiggg slumber party!" Yang said as she flopped down onto her sleeping bag.

Ruby, who was busy writing a letter, distractedly replied. "I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys though."

Yang, after taking a look around the room at all the well-muscled, shirtless boys, gave a low purr, that took on an even more aggressive tone as she spotted a shirtless Harry next to his sister. "I know I do." Unfortunately, her good mood was killed at the sight of a blonde boy dressed in a blue bunny onesie walked in front of her and gave her a "flirtatious" wink.

"What's that?" Yang asked, eager to get her mind off that horrible image.

"A letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going." Ruby replied absentmindedly.

"Awww, that's so cuuuutttee!" Yang teased.

"Shut up." Ruby ordered as she threw a pillow into her sister's face. "I didn't get to take my friends with me to school, it's weird not knowing anyone here."

Yang frowned lightly before a teasing look appeared on her face. "What about your boyfriend Harry? He seems nice. Plus, one and half friends!"

Ruby blushed and sputtered. "He's not my boyfriend! And one and a half?"

Yang grew a big smirk on her face. "Boyfriends are an extra half a point."

"Yang!"

"Hahaha, sorry, sorry, I'll stop for now. Still, he's still a friend. That's a 100% increase."

Ruby's mood dropped slightly. "I'm pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend, back to zero."

"There's no such thing as negative friends. You just made one friend and one enemy."

Ruby just stared blankly at her sister for a moment before chucking another pillow into her face. Yang, after removing the pillow, turned serious.

"Look, it's only been one day. Trust me, you've got friends all around you, you just haven't met them yet."

 **0000000000000000**

"So sis, any luck in the friend department yet?" Harry asked as he set out his clothes for the initiation tomorrow.

Pyrrha frowned slightly. "No, everyone I met so far has gone all adoring fan on me and you know how I feel about that."

"Well, I don't think either Ruby or her sister recognized you, or if they did they didn't really care. They're also pretty interesting. You can try being their friends, I know I will."

Pyrrha turned thoughtful for a moment before a teasing grin formed on her lip. "Ooh? Moving rather quickly aren't you? Isn't Ruby a bit young for you Harry? What will mitéra ( **mother** ) think?"

Harry couldn't keep a blush from forming despite his best efforts. He still hadn't gotten used to this kind of interaction even after all these years.

"Shut it adelfí ( **sister** ), it's not like you're one to talk either. Do I need to mention the Capricorn incident again?"

Pyrrha paled and shook her head rapidly, causing Harry to snort.

"Thought so."

The two fell into a comfortable silence at that point despite their conversation as they both adopted to observe the other potential students in the auditorium. Harry quickly spotted Ruby and her sister, shooting them a cheerful wave, which they both returned though Ruby seemed a bit flustered. It was probably due to his lack of a shirt/her sister's teasing. Moving on he spotted Weiss again, who opted to ignore his cheeky grin in favor of her keeping her temper in check. Harry chuckled as he continued to sweep. He noted the girl who put down Weiss reading near the back of the room along a boy with white hair and dispassionate eyes reading next to her. He hadn't seen the latter before and he didn't know the former so he decided to go introduce himself.

"Hey Pyrrha, I'm going to go try and make friends. Want to come with?"

Pyrrha contemplated his offer for a few moments before responding. "Who?"

Harry tilted his head towards the window. "Those two. The girl put down Weiss quite easily so I thought she'd be interesting. Plus, the book she and the guy next to her are reading is one of my favorites."

Pyrrha turned to look at the two, noting the distance between them as she did so. "Your semblance still makes me jealous."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Says the girl who can control magnetic fields. Do you really want to talk about jealousy? After I helped you figure out… alternative uses for it?"

His sister had the graciousness to blush at that, acknowledging his point. His semblance was both practical and useful but Pyrrha's was downright terrifying at times. He sometimes regretted turning into her a Mini-Magneto. At least she didn't possess anywhere near Harry's level of aura reserves or _he_ might have been jealous, Phyrra would be almost stoppable with that combined with her semblance. Sure his aura reserves caused him some problems initially when he was younger but damned if they weren't useful to have.

"Alright I get it. You're in charge of talking though."

Harry just ruffled her hair in response, much to her ire, before walking over to the window. When he stopped only a couple of feet away from them only the male stopped reading long enough to acknowledge his presence.

"Yo. Name's Harry, this is my sister Pyrrha. I saw that you two were reading my favorite book and I decided I wanted to make friends."

That got an eyebrow from the guy, notably it was the eyebrow above his non-eye patched eye, and caused the girl to look up from her book. The guy ended up being the first to talk.

"I see… I'm Ken Kaneki, Kaneki is my given name."

"Oh, so you're from Mistral too then."

"Yes."

Harry was slightly put off by Kaneki's flat voice and curt responses but didn't let it bother him too much.

"And you miss?"

The girl stared at him for a few moments, seemingly evaluating him, and Harry noted that her bow seemed to twitch minutely as she did so.

"Blake Belladona."

Blake's response was even more curt than Kaneki's but at least her tone was less cold.

"Well now that introductions are out of the way do you two want to be friends?"

In eerie synchronicity the two shared a look, shrugged their shoulders and resumed reading their respective books. Harry would have sweat dropped if this was an anime. Sharing a look of his own with his uncomfortable looking sister, Harry decided one last track before giving it up for the night.

"Do you two know each other?"

"No" Was the dual response, once again in synch which was incredibly weird.

"…Right. Anyways I guess we'll leave you to your reading for the night then. If you ever want to read the sequel or the author's other works let me know and you can borrow my copies."

Blake seemed slightly surprised by that but it was harder to tell what Kaneki was thinking. Regardless both thanked him politely, and with slightly warmer tones, before he left them to their devices.

"Well… that was awkward."

Pyrrha deadpanned at him. "I honestly don't understand how you have as many friends as you do if that's how you ' _make friends'_."

Harry shot his sister a slight glare. "You're just jealous. Besides, anti-social types are always like that at first. Once you actually manage to become friends with them they got much better, trust me."

Pyrrha didn't look convinced but didn't comment further. "Now what? Anyone else you want to fail at making friends with or can we go to bed?"

Harry hummed thoughtfully as he looked around the room. There were a few potential people he wanted to get to know. There was a hyperactive girl with orange hair that reminded him a bit of Luna, along with her long suffering friend, near the door that looked promising. Then again… he wasn't sure if he was up to dealing someone that reminded him of Luna the night before initiation, he still needed sleep despite his semblance after all. Beyond that pair there was a cold looking girl that looked to be sleeping while leaning against the wall that caught his interest but he didn't feel like conversing with another anti-social person so soon after the last two. Scanning the room one last time he caught sight of something he wasn't sure how he overlooked until then.

"What the hell is a little girl doing here?" He muttered, not quite aware he had spoken out loud until Pyrrha responded to his words.

"What do you mean."

Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye he pointed in the direction of the girl, which caused Pyrrha to look both confused and startled at the same time. The girl had off white/silver hair, yellow cat like eyes, facial scars and the most adorable black cat themed onesie he had ever seen.

"Yeah…I'm going to go say hello. It's doubtful that she somehow managed to wander into Beacon of all places randomly so she likely belongs here but…"

"Yeah." His sister caught his meaning and the both of them proceeded to walk over to the little girl. Her bedding was about as far removed from everyone else's as possible in the cramped auditorium, with the closest person being a few meters away, so she quickly noticed them approaching. The odd, and more than a little worrying, part was how she reacted, or rather how she didn't react at all, to their presence. There was no change in expression, no attempt to move, nothing. All she did was stare at them with a completely emotionless face.

"Hi. Name's Harry, this is my sister Pyrrha. What's your name little one?" Harry asked with as warm and comforting a smile as he could produce. He also a minor application of aura manipulation to broadcast a feeling of _trust me_ and affection to her as he did so. The only reaction he got for his trouble though was a slight tilt of her head and a mono-tone answer to his question.

"Jack."

Harry maintained his smile and aura technique. "That's a nice name. Are you here to become a Hunter as well Jack?"

"Yes."

"That's very impressive. You must be quite skilled to get in at such a young age."

"We're 15."

Surprisingly there was no annoyance or exasperation in her face as she said this. There was still no emotion at all in fact. Harry was admittedly surprised as Jack looked like she was only 12 years old, 13 at a stretch, but didn't let it show.

"My apologizes, you just look so young." Jack didn't respond at all so Harry continued talking. "Anyways, me and my sister were wondering if you wanted to be friends?"

Again Jack gave a cute little head tilt in response to his question. "Why?"

Harry decided to be honest with his motivations. "You're unique. You have more of a presence than the majority of people here and I like making as many friends as possible. It's always a good thing to have more friends right? Besides…you looked lonely."

Pyrrha decided to add her own two cents to the conversation at this point. "You're also obviously quite skilled if you managed to get into Beacon two years early and me and my brother are always looking for new sparring partners."

Jack just starred at both of them blankly for several moments, not giving away what, if anything, she was thinking. Eventually however she gave a shallow nod to show her acquiescence, much to both the Nikos sibling's pleasure.

"Great. Now how about we get to know each other better then? Do you have any hobbies? Why'd you want to become a Hunter? What weapon do you use?"

"…Hobbies?"

"Umm, things you do for fun or are good at." Harry said, guessing that somehow Jack didn't understand the word.

"…killing." Harry repressed the cold shiver that threatened to go down his spine at that. What made it worse was the cold, dead way she said it. It didn't help that he was now getting a pretty good idea who Jack was supposed to be, or at least represent. Remnant was a dumping ground of stories, legends and fables after all. Pyrrha was looking decidedly uncomfortable at this point and discreetly pinched him in an attempt to get him to wrap the conversation up, likely so they could leave. Harry wasn't going to however, though he shot Pyrrha a look that said she could go on without him, which she promptly ignored. It was good to have family, they always had your backs.

"I see… and did you want to become a Hunter because of your… hobby?"

Jack ever so slowly shook her head.

"The Wizard told us we'd find mommy if we became a Hunter. We miss mommy, it's cold without her."

This was honestly one of the strangest conversation Harry has ever had in this life. Not in a good way either like those he had, had with Luna. Still, he wasn't going to stop being her friend, or attempting to be her friend (he wasn't sure what Jack actually thought about the concept of friends after all), because of it though.

"Are you cold Jack?"

A small nod.

"Do you want a hug?" He decided to ask, knowing that cold, in this scenario, was more than likely not referring to temperature at all.

"What's a hug?"

Harry felt his heart clinch at that, and he could tell from the sharp inhalation of breath that Pyrrha felt something similar. Deciding to go for broke he plopped himself down next to her and pulled her into a hug. Jack offered no resistance but did look at him with confusion, an improvement over her formally emotionless eyes.

"This is a hug. How is it? Is it warm?"

Jack didn't answer for a while as she tried to figure out exactly how this new thing called a hug felt. Eventually she managed to sum up her thoughts in a single word, "Warm", before she happily nuzzled into her Harry's chest. Though surprised by the action, and Jack actually showing a hint of emotion for the first time, Harry couldn't help but smile at the girl. Pyrrha, who had been watching the two interact the whole time, couldn't quite figure out what expression to make. On the one hand Jack was incredibly adorable and the way she was acting increased that perception by a lot. On the other hand, she thought Jack was quite a disturbing individual just from the brief conversation Harry had, had with her. It made her expression quite humorous and Harry couldn't help but chuckle lightly in response, causing Jack to look at him questioningly.

"It's nothing Jack." He said as he gave her head a few pats, causing her eyes to narrow in content much like the cat her onesie made her look like.

"I'm gona stick around with Jack for a while sis, no need to stick around if you're tired."

Pyrrha was clearly uncomfortable with the idea but it was equally clear that she was tired. Eventually however, she decided to leave.

"Alright, I'm going to bed then. Don't stay up too late Harry, initiation starts pretty early tomorrow."

Harry just waved at her dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I swear you're as bad as mitéra sometimes."

Pyrrha glared at him for a moment before leaving with a huff, which was Harry's goal in the first place. Nothing makes someone forget about their concerns like making them mad (or embarrassed). Once Pyrrha left Harry looked down at Jack to see her looking at him entreatingly. It took him a bit to realize that she wanted more head pats. He decided to humor her after chuckling a bit. It didn't take long after that, only a few minutes really, for Jack to fall asleep.

"Mommy."

Harry frowned heavily at Jack's whispered words as he tried to extract himself her and move her to her bed. Thinking his options over for a bit he sighed heavily and decided to just get comfortable, he'd be sleeping while sitting down tonight apparently. At least he wasn't cold.

* * *

"Hey Rubes, I think your boyfriend is straying. Want to go over there and stake your claim?" Yang teased.

Ruby's face went atomic. "Yang shut up! He's not my boyfriend! Also, I'm pretty sure that's his sister."

Yang hummed thoughtfully as she mentally raked them over with her eyes, liking what she saw, and comparing them. "I can see that I guess. They have the same eyes… hey doesn't she look familiar?"

"I think she's on a cereal box." Ruby stated hesitantly.

Yang snapped her fingers. "Right, Pumpkin Pete's… never liked that brand… I wonder who they're talking to? You think they're friends?"

"That's the girl who helped me after I exploded…I don't know the guy though."

"Hmm… looks like an emo." Yang stated bluntly.

"Yang! That's rude."

Yang shrugged unrepentantly. "What? It's true. He's even got black nail polish on."

Ruby faltered at that. "Yeah… well…"

"Anyways, you said that girl helped you out right? Sounds like a potential friend to me, come on let's go." Yang reached out, grabbing Ruby's wrist, intent on forcing her socially awkward sister to make more friends.

"Yang, stop! She's talking to Harry; it'll be rude to just butt in."

Yang grew a Cheshire grin. "You seem awfully concerned about your not-boyfriend, Rubes."

Ruby sputtered, causing Yang to laugh heartily. "I'm just messing with ya. Besides your not-boyfriend seems to be leaving anyways. Come on, I bet if you make friends with them you'll be able to hang out with Harry more often. You'd like that right?"

"Yeah." Ruby nodded absentmindedly before she caught on to the implied message in Yang's words. "Yang!"

* * *

Harry woke up early next morning with a crick in his neck and an unfamiliar weight on his lap. Blinking his eyes blearily Harry took a moment to process where he was and remember what happened last night. Looking down he was greeted by the curious gaze of a very awake Jack, surprising considering his inner clock told him it was barely past five in the morning.

"Ah…good morning Jack. Did you sleep well?"

Jack nodded her head cutely, causing the felt cat ears on top of her hood to jiggle slightly. Harry couldn't resist the urge to pat her head at the cuteness.

"Yes. Mommy was very warm."

Harry stilled in his ministrations briefly before he continued, not quite expecting the comment but not overly surprised by it either.

"I see, that's good. Do you mind getting off my lap please Jack? I need to use the restroom."

Jack pouted slightly, which was another surprise for Harry. It was odd seeing her being so expressive considering how she might as well have been a robot for all the emotion she had showed last night, at least up until his hugging her at any rate. Still, despite not quite wanting to, Jack eventually got off him, allowing Harry to stand up and stretch out his stiff muscles.

"Thank you. After I go to the bathroom and get changed do you want to get breakfast with me Jack?"

Jack nodded her head eagerly, once more cutely sending her "cat ears" flopping wildly.

"Alright then, make sure you get dressed too ok? As adorable as you look in your pajamas you need to get ready for initiation."

Again a cute nod was Jack's only response. Harry made sure to give her a few more head pats before walking back to where he stored his stuff next to Pyrrha. Luckily his sister was still asleep so he didn't have to explain where he had been (yet) as he managed to grab his stuff without waking her. Pyrrha was not actually a morning person despite the frequency in which she got up at early hours of the morning. Not as early as him but early enough that other teenagers would stare at her in disbelief for.

It took about ten minutes for Harry to do his business, wash his face and get kitted out for the day. Like many Hunters, and Hunters in training, Harry generally stuck to a single outfit that he possessed multiple copies of. In his case that consisted of black, steel-toed combat boots, comfortable black jeans held up with a chain belt, a black muscle t-shirt, his dark-green trench coat and fingerless gloves that had small black casings on the top. Other than that the only other thing Harry generally wore was his weapon but he had to store that in a locker like everyone else. Upon exiting the bathroom Harry was instantly stunned by what he saw.

"Jack…what are you wearing."

"Clothes."

Harry had to repress an exasperated sigh at that response.

"And where did you get those clothes? Or more specifically, who gave them to you?"

Jack frowned, looking upset for the first time he'd ever seen. Though considering he only met her last night that wasn't saying much.

"Former-mommy gave them to us before she left."

Harry didn't like that at all. Both because whoever had been looking after Jack had abandoned her and because whoever it was, was likely not a very moral individual. Said impression wasn't because of Jack's "hobby" but rather her outfit. Said outfit consisted of pink flats, black stockings and low legged black panties on her bottom half and a sleeveless black corset thing as a top, bandages around her forearms/hands and a single black glove on her top half, and nothing else. It was a very questionable outfit for someone as young as Jack to wear, especially since she looked two or three years younger than she actually was. The fact that the outfit also showcased various scars and two circular, crimson tattoos on her shoulders didn't help his impression of her former "mommy" at all either.

"Right…Do you…like those clothes?"

Jack tilted her head and frowned slightly, before nodding a few seconds later.

"Ok. Well…" Harry honestly didn't know what to say about that so he opted for the next best option, ignoring the problem completely. "Let's go get breakfast than shall we?"

Jack nodded eagerly and rushed forward to grab his hand. Harry looked at her in fond amusement, already feeling quite close to the girl despite barely knowing her. Something about her just called his protective instincts out like nothing else had for a long time. As they walked towards the cafeteria in search for their breakfast Harry couldn't help but smile at his new friend/daughter/sister, honestly he wasn't sure what Jack was. Anyways, he couldn't help but smile widely as he watched her skip along happily, swinging their arms together as she did so. Her behavior at the moment made it quite difficult to believe that she was actually as old as she said she was. It was only his belief that Jack wouldn't have lied, simply because she likely didn't care about such things as age, that kept him from doubting her.

As the two ate their breakfast, basic fare that consisted of fruit, bacon and eggs, Harry tried to engage Jack in conversation as much as possible, trying to figure her out as best as possible. It was slow going. Not because Jack refused to answer but because her answers didn't really tell him much, when she even understood the question in the first place. Her likes? Mommy and being warm. Dislikes? Anything not mommy and the cold. Dream for the future? What's that? It was a bit frustrating but mostly Harry just felt sympathy, especially when he made the mistake of asking her what her childhood was like. Let's just say that the picture it painted after he deciphered the Jackese she spoke in wasn't good. All in all, it made him curious about just why Jack was here at all. It would have been much better for her to be receiving psychiatric help somewhere rather than be thrust into Huntress training. What the hell was Ozpin, because who else could have orchestrated this, thinking? He was starting to get very unpleasant flashbacks to Dumbledore.

"Are you mad at us mommy?"

Harry shook off his thoughts. "Ah. No Jack I'm not mad at you. I was thinking about something else that was a bit upsetting."

"What was it?" She asked curiously.

Harry shook his head. "It's not important. Anyways, are you full or do you want me to get you some more food?"

"We're full mommy."

"Ok. Then do you want to come with me for my morning warm up? We still have another hour or so before initiation is supposed to start."

Predictably Jack nodded her head eagerly in response before darting forward to grab his hand once more as they walked towards the courtyard where he was planning to do his warm up. Unbeknownst to him as they walked out of the Cafeteria's corridor they just missed running into Pyrrha, who was looking for him quite worriedly.

* * *

"Wonder what those two are so worked up about." Ruby wondered as she saw a girl with orange hair and her obviously tired friend rush passed her locker.

"Oh, who knows… So! You seem awfully chipper this morning. Did you have a _good_ dream?" Yang teased.

"Can you stop teasing me already Yang?" Ruby whined.

"Nope." Yang said with a smirk, making sure to pop the p for extra emphasis.

"Sigh… And I am, or rather was, excited because it's time for initiation. Which means no more awkward small talk, or getting to know you stuff. Today I get to let my sweetheart do all the talking for me." Ruby said as she cuddled Crescent Rose to her chest.

Yang hated to burst her sister's bubble but it had to be done. "Well… remember that you're not the only one going through initiation. If you want to grow up you're going to have to meet new people, make new friends and learn how to work together."

"Ughhh, you sound just like dad." Ruby groaned in annoyance. "Okay. First of all, what does meeting people have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up. I drink milk." She finished smugly.

Yang couldn't help but stare at her sister with dull eyes at the last comment. "Right… but what about when we form teams?"

Ruby flinched slightly and crossed her arms defensively. "I…I don't know. I'll just be on your team or something…"

"Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?" Yang broached delicately as she brushed her hair nervously, knowing just how sensitive a topic this would be.

"Yang…are…are you saying you don't want to be on the same team as me?" Ruby asked, sounding a bit hurt at the idea, which was exactly what Yang feared would happen.

"No! Of course I want to be on the same team as you. I just thought…I don't know, maybe it would help you break out of your shell?"

"What!? I don't need to break out of my shell! That's absolutely-"

"Ridiculous! There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday!" The sudden appearance of a blonde boy, known as Vomit Boy to Yang and Ruby, cut off the red girl's building tirade before it could truly begin.

Yang, thankful for this lucky break, spoke up before Ruby could build up steam again. "Look Ruby. If we're on the same team that's great. But Hunter teams are in groups of four, which means we'll need two more people anyways. All I'm saying is that you need to get comfortable with the idea. There's also no telling how we're getting sorted into teams anyways. I'm just trying to look after you ok?"

Ruby sighed. "I know it's just…"

"I understand Rubes." Ruby nodded in thanks, not really wanting to explain herself out loud. The two girls continued to check over their gear and finish their preparations for initiation in silence for several seconds before Yang broke the ice once more. "So, any thoughts on who you'd want on your team?"

Ruby paused in her motions before reluctantly speaking. "I don't know; I don't really know anyone here. Not like you."

"Well there's your boyfriend." Yang teased.

Surprisingly enough Ruby didn't react as Yang expected. "I guess. Harry seems nice and he said we're friends."

Yang's grin grew exponentially wider at that. "There you go Rubes. There's also Blake, she seemed nice enough as well."

Ruby nodded slowly, a small smile growing on her lips as she realized that she (theoretically) already had a team lined up for her. It really reduced the stress she had been feeling all morning even if she didn't acknowledge its existence. "You're right. Speaking of, where is Harry? I haven't seen him at all this morning." Looking around the locker room once more to and still not finding him.

Yang was about to reply she dind't know when the man in question walked through the door, along with a very strange tag along. "Uh… I think I found him."

"Really where!?" Ruby asked excitedly.

Yang looked incredibly uncomfortable. "Umm… Rubes. I don't think you should talk to Harry anymore."

"What!? Why!?" Ruby was both confused and unhappy, Yang had just told her she should try and get him on her team why did she change her mind all of the sudden.

Debating the pros and cons of answering truthfully Yang decided to speak plainly. "Cause I don't want anyone with _those_ kinds of taste near my baby sister."

"What are you talking abo-?" Ruby trailed off as she finally caught sight of Harry and the young girl that was happily holding his hand. Briefly she thought about the "strange men" her father had talked about before she dismissing it hurriedly. "I doubt it's what it looks like. Harry isn't like that."

Yang didn't look convinced. "Right… and what other reason would he be walking around with a 12-year-old girl who's dressed like that?"

"Maybe she's a student here too?" Ruby said meekly, unable to meet Yang's dead panned eyes. Still, she forced herself to rally in defense of her new friend(?). "I mean how else would you explain how she got here? Beacon's not open to civilians and I doubt that they have bring your daughter to work day for the teachers."

That seemed to convince Yang somewhat, though only slightly. "Fine, I'll believe it for now. But your boyfriend is on thin ice Rubes. I'll be watching him closely from now on."

Ruby nodded, feeling relieved. Up until she processed her sister's words at any rate. "Yang! He's not my boyfriend!"

* * *

Harry looked at Jack out of the corner of his eye as she put on her combat gear while he did the same. Surprisingly, or possibly unsurprisingly, Jack's combat kit only consisted of her weapons and no armor. To be fair that wasn't exactly uncommon but generally speaking most hunters/huntresses also wear more clothes than Jack so it was a bit strange. Jack's weapons were also a bit strange, consisting of six large daggers, two of which looked vaguely like butcher's knives along with a couple dozen small throwing knives that Harry couldn't see where the small girl managed to store them. It was like they simply disappeared. To go along with what Harry assumed to be Jack's main weapons were six black sheaths with teal tips that hung from her lower back almost like a butt cape. Harry couldn't tell much about the weapons themselves however beyond that they were well made, deadly and that the two larger ones looked like mechashift weapons of some sort.

As for his own gear it consisted purely of Event Horizon, which he stuck to his lower back underneath his coat, and two spools of metal filament wire he slotted into the casing atop his gloves. He didn't actually have a ranged weapon per se as he was actually quite a terrible shot with a gun even with all his training. His semblance and ability with aura manipulation made up for that however.

"Would all first year student please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. Again, all first year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

"Well then… you ready to go Jack?"

"Yup!" Jack shouted eagerly, showing the strongest emotion Harry had seen yet from the girl.

"Good, come on then."

Despite the fact that they were heading towards their initiation decked in their combat gear Jack still opted for holding his hands and skipping along next to him. The duo ended up being at the tail end of all the first years as they trekked towards the cliff due to them getting to the locker room much later than the others. Harry was able to see all the people of interest he had noted previously ahead of him, including his sister, but made no move to catch up. He honestly didn't think it too important, though he might have changed his mind if he knew how worried he had made Pyrrha by not running into her at all that morning. Of course he was quickly clued in to her displeasure when they made it to the cliff and he caught the death glare she sent him after looking relieved at finally seeing him.

"For years you have trained to become warriors and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin stated as he sipped his hot chocolate. Harry wondered if the man simply disliked long speeches or actually disliked talking in and of itself.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams." Goodwitch continued the explanation in lieu of her boss with practiced ease, ignoring the excited/nervous looks she was getting. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… Today."

Harry looked down as Jack tugged on his hand, noticing her slightly worried expression. He gave her a reassuring smile and pat on the head and tuned back in to listen to Ozpin speak.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Ozpin paused to sip his hot chocolate briefly.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next 4 years." Needless to say the reactions to that announcement were… mixed.

"After you've partnered up make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way." Here Ozpin paused again to glare sharply at his newest students.

"Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you _will_ die." Another pause to make sure everyone understand his poignant message and Ozpin resumed speaking once more.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation but our instructors will not intervene regardless of what happens. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

The blond kid Harry could still only identify as Vomit Boy raised his hand. "Yeah, um sir-"

"Good! Now, take your positions." Harry had to stifle a laugh at how Ozpin acted like the kid wasn't even there. He shook it off quickly however and got into a ready position, right leg bent and slightly forward, left foot back and slightly on its toes and his right hand on Event Horizon. Jack also took a ready position, though it was difficult to determine that her nonchalant pose was actually that, especially since she kept staring at him.

"Uh, sir? I've got, um, a question." Vomit boy continued to try and ask his question even as students were getting launched off of catapults one by one. "So, this landing strategy thing, uh, w-what is it? You're like, dropping us off or something?"

Harry wondered why he was even asking. It was obvious what was happening after all, especially since Weiss was literally launched off a catapult right next to him right before he asked.

"No. You will be falling." Harry could almost taste the carefully hidden sadistic enjoyment Ozpin was getting out of this conversation.

"Oh…I see…So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?"

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

Harry, unfortunately, didn't get to hear the rest of the conversation as he was promptly launch into the air by his own catapult, which was a shame. He would bet money that the end of the conversation would be utterly hilarious though.

As he soared through the air he couldn't help but let out a whoop of delight, this was the kind of thing he lived for. If there was one thing he missed about his old life was the ability to fly on a broom. There was just something about being able to feel the wind whip by you that made flying so much better than any other kind of travel. Still, all good things come to an end and soon enough the ground was quickly approaching. He briefly debated about his landing strategy, mainly whether or not just to tank the landing (which he could easily do) or pull off something a bit more stylish. The latter option eventually won due to the fact that the initiation was being monitored and he hoped the instructors would give points for style.

With a flick of his wrists he sent the filament from his gloves flying out to wrap around a couple of trees. To ensure that both his wires, and his body, didn't snap from the sudden deceleration he infused both with a ramped up version of his Semblance. The result was that he stopped dead in midair several meters off the ground. Luckily he also altered his wires so that their cutting edge was completely gone otherwise he would have cut the trees in half, as it was they still stripped several layers of the thick tree bark off. With another flick of his wrist the wires rewound themselves and he dropped to the forest floor in a graceful crouch.

"Now then, do I try searching for a partner now or just make my way to the ruins and leave it to luck?"

He didn't get a chance to make a decision however as a massive bank of fog blew in from out of nowhere, covered the forest and left Harry unable to see more than a meter in front of him. Event Horizon was instantly in his hand and deployed in its glaive and shield combination, ready to confront whatever was causing the clearly unnatural phenomena.

"Mommy!"

The sudden weight on his back and the loud voice was evidence enough of who it was, though how Jack suddenly appeared behind him and completely bypassed his senses he didn't know. Though it was clear that the fog had something to do with it, quite a fitting Semblance for Jack the Ripper if he was being honest.

"Hello Jack, looks like we're partners now."

He felt Jack nuzzle into the back of his neck as she laughed delightedly.

"Right. I'm assuming the fog is yours then Jack?"

"Yup."

"Would you mind making it go away? It kind of makes it hard to see."

A moment later the fog disappeared, revealing the forest once more in all its glory. Harry idly noted that the usual forest sounds were back now as well, somehow having been dampened or silenced by Jack's fog.

"Thank you Jack. Are you fine with staying like that or do you want to walk with me?"

Harry asked, turning his head slightly so he could see Jack's face, which was looking adorably pensive as she debated the pros and cons of each choice. Eventually however she decided to get down and walk with him, albeit reluctantly. Not wanting to waste any more time Harry set off towards the north, Jack following alongside up doing her happy skipping routine, albeit without the hand holding this time. Harry was thankful for that at least as it made dealing with the low level Grimm that showed up incredibly easy. All he had to do was flick out his aura and semblance infused wire and boom, Grimm fillet. He could have done that with only one hand as well but having both made it faster, especially since Jack liked to hold his right, and dominant, hand.

It only took them half an hour to reach the ruins which Harry found a bit disappointing, mostly because there hadn't been any challenge at all in doing so. He hadn't even gotten to fight an Alpha for Christ sake. At least Jack seemed happy enough.

"What do you think. Black or gold?" Harry asked his short companion.

"Black."

Harry had to chuckle at the immediate reply, he should have known.

"Any preference on what piece you want?"

Jack tilted her head to the side quizzically.

"Do you know what chess is?"

A shake of the head.

"Right, well to sum it up each of these pieces are different. The pawn is the weakest but can turn into any other piece, besides the king, if it reaches the end of the board. The Knight has the trickiest movement, the rook only moves in straight lines, the Bishop moves diagonally, the Queen is the strongest piece that moves however it wants really and the King is the piece that determine victory or defeat."

It was a very simple explanation that wasn't fully accurate but Jack seemed to get it well enough.

"Queen. It's like mommy."

Harry smiled down at his partner and ruffled her hair playfully before he went and picked up the black queen piece, putting it in an inner pocket of his coat for safe keeping. He was about to suggest they leave when out of the forest came another pair of students, one of whom Harry actually recognized.

"Yo Kaneki. Glad to see you made it all right."

All Harry got was a raised eyebrow in response from the white haired teen and a blank face.

"Also, nice gimp suit."

That finally got a response out of the teen. It was only a twitch of the eyebrow but it was something. Harry wondered if he got the comment a lot though considering how muted the reaction was or if Kaneki was simply that controlled with his emotions. Really though it looked like Kaneki was wearing a leather gimp suit, complete with a mask. Sure the "suit" was actually in two pieces, with the top showing off his midrift, and the mask was more terrifying than fetishistic but it wasn't that far off. At least he didn't use a whip as a weapon, instead opting for a non-mechashift katana and rifle combination. Noting that Kaneki's partner was the same girl he noticed sleeping while standing up last night he asked for introductions.

"Who's your friend Kaneki?"

"Mikasa Ackerman." The girl answered for himself. Harry quickly appraised her, noting that her clothes were much more "normal" than her partners consisting of a set of white trousers and blouse, dark brown riding boots with straps crossing up her legs to a weird mini-skirt thing, a rusty red colored scarf and a tan long sleeved jacket that ended just below her breasts. As for her weapons she carried a pair of longswords attached to both sides of her hips that Harry believed were mechashift in some way. What they shifted into however he wasn't sure.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Heracles Nikos, though I prefer to go by Harry. This is Jack. Say hello Jack."

"Yes mommy… hello."

Jacks "introduction" got raised eyebrows from both of the other Hunters and Harry was quickly subjected to concerned, and slightly warry, looks. He just shrugged, giving off an air of not understanding either. The clearing descended into a slightly awkward silence for a few moments before Kaneki decided to walk by and grab a relic, which Harry noted was the other black queen piece there. Before _he_ could leave however _another_ pair of students showed up, this time consisting of Ruby's sister and Blake.

"You know it's quite odd how so many of us are showing up at around the same time." Harry couldn't help but comment. Unfortunately, he had a tough crowd to work with as 3 out of 5 were anti-social, Jack was, well Jack and currently hanging onto his back again and Goldilocks was looking at him like he was a sex-offender. Honestly he wasn't sure if he blamed her for that impression given Jack's outfit and her attitude around him. Thankfully the pair decided to simply grab their relic without any annoying, or awkward, questions. Though in what was becoming a theme they didn't get far before another interruption occurred.

"Did you guys hear that?" Harry asked, drawing blanks from everyone else for a few moments before whatever it was got closer.

"It almost sounds like-" Yang got cut off at that point by the loud screaming of her sister.

"Heads upppp!"

Harry wasn't sure how Ruby came to be free falling through the sky, again, but decided it was probably not a good idea to let her fall on her face. Though why she didn't use the same landing strategy as she did when she got catapulted from the cliff he didn't know. Cranking up his Semblance passed its passive state Harry easily launched himself into the sky and caught Ruby, looking completely unhindered by the presence of Jack on his back.

"So… did you decide to go Nevermore surfing or something?"

Harry asked as they fell towards back to Earth, though at a much more reduced speed than Ruby had been initially. Ruby blushed in embarrassment and turned her head away in response.

"Wait really? You actually did that?" Harry started laughed at that point, and didn't stop even after they reached the ground and he put Ruby back on her own feet. He was laughing so hard in fact that he missed the sight of Vomit Boy flying across the sky and crashing into one of the nearby trees…hard.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky? And did that guy leave a perfect facial imprint in that tree?" Blake asked in stunned bemusement.

"I…"

Yang didn't get to respond as an Ursa crashing into the clearing interrupted her.

"Yeeehhawww!"

Harry started laughing again as he caught site of the orange haired girl who had apparently just ridden in on an Ursa of all things. Hunters really were a gathering of insane people.

"Aww, it's broken."

"Nora! Please…never do that again." Unfortunately, Nora's partner's pleas went unheard as the girl in question somehow managed to teleport herself towards the ruins, right next to Kaneki in fact. The stoic boy actually jumped slightly at that, which was amusing.

"Ooooo. I'm Queen of the castle! I'm Queen of the castle! "

"NORA!"

"Teehee, coming Ren!"

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked in disbelief. Harry wanted to point out that Ruby rode in on a Nevermore but didn't get a chance before yet another interruption made itself known, this time in the form of his sister running from an Elder Death Stalker. Well, Harry couldn't have that now could he.

"Jack, could you get off please? I need to go… educate that Death Stalker that it's a bad idea to mess with my family." Everyone in the clearing shivered at the way he said that, except for Jack that is.

"Yes mommy." Jack replied as she quickly got off his back. Harry spared her a brief pat on the head before he shot off towards his sister, Event Horizon once more in his arms in its Glaive/Shield combo. Just in time to block a stab from the Grimm's stinger aimed towards Pyrrha's back.

"Sis, how many times did mom tell you not to bring back strays." Harry said as he nonchalantly held back the Death Stalker's stinger with one arm. God he loved his semblance, even if it was "plain" compared to others.

Pyrrha conducted a smart bit of footwork that turned her around with Miló in rifle mode, which she promptly used to start shooting out the Death Stalker's eyes, much to its hissing displeasure. "Shove it Harry. I've been running for five straight kilometers because my partner can't fight and I had to save his scrawny ass. He didn't even have his aura unlocked until I did it for him!"

Harry arched an eyebrow as he shoved the Death Stalker's stinger away, dashing into close range combat where he used his glaive to cut off one of the scorpion Grimm's legs. "Really? How the hell did he get into Beacon then?"

"I don't know." Pyrrha grunted out as she counted to lay out suppressive fire on the Grimm. "He's nice though at least and his natural aura levels are quite large. Nowhere near yours mind you but they are a bit higher than my own."

Now Harry was really surprised though he didn't let it show as he continued to (literally) cut the legs out from under the Death Stalker. "Wow, that's quite impressive. I doubt he's had much training either if he didn't have his aura unlocked, especially since you said he couldn't fight. Wonder how his reserve will grow once he has… think maybe the Wizard of Oz saw that potential and let him in despite his…deficiencies or do you think something shady is going on?"

Pyrrha shifted Miló into spear form, rushed forward and promptly shoved it through the Grimm's gaping maw while it was brought down from the imbalanced number of legs it now possessed. "Not sure, moneys on the former though."

Harry exhaled loudly as he shoved his glaive through the Death Stalker's (relatively) more vulernable underbelly, piercing its heart and finally killing the beast. All in all, the fight took about 45 to 60 seconds, leaving everyone who just watched it in disbelief, even Weiss who had just only fallen to the ground from her own Nevermore ride about half way through the fight.

"So… how's everyone doing?"

Harry got mixed reactions, though the majority one was a deadpan. The exceptions were Jack, who had promptly run back to him once the fight was over, Ruby who was staring at him with stars in her eyes and Yang who looked on the verge of exploding…literally. The red eyes were a neat trick at least.

"Can we just took a break for a few seconds where nothing completely insane happens!?"

Harry raised an eyebrow before looking up into the sky.

"Well… that depends." Yang looked at him with murder in her eyes but that didn't dissuade him at all. "Do you or do you not consider a Murder of Giant Nevermores flying at us as something insane?"

That got everyone staring at him in disbelief for a moment before they too turned their gazes too the sky.

"All in favor of grabbing the relics and running?" Vomit Boy asked to unanimous support. In fact, the only one who didn't raise their hand was Jack and that was because she was busy clinging to his neck again.

"Cool, let's go then."

All twelve teens immediately booked it, heading deeper into the ruins towards where the teachers were waiting for them. If it was only one giant Nevermore Harry wouldn't have run but there were currently five of them and flying Grimm were his worst matchup considering his lack of dedicated ranged weapon.

They had managed to reach the hanging walkways of the ruins under the cliff by the time the lead Grimm swooped in for an attack. It was a mistake on its part. Getting in close and pulling ahead of its fellows was the worst thing it could have done and Harry made sure to capitalize on it viciously. A flick of his wrists saw his wires wrap around the beast's neck as he bulldozed through a part of the ruins. A split second latter Harry was on its back as it flew away, gradually tightening the filament as it acted like a garrote wire. The Nevermore didn't take it lying down however and tried everything it could to dislodge him but nothing worked. The only thing that might have worked, crashing into the cliff to try and squish him, never had the chance to be tried as by the time it moved in for an attempt Harry, with one final heave of effort, finally separated its head from its body.

As he fell back down to ground he took a moment to analyze the situation. His "fight" with his Nevermore last all of thirty seconds but it had been enough time for the rest of the murder to reach everyone. Two of the Nevermore's was being dealt with by a team consisting of his sister (who was essentially soloing one of them by herself), Vomit Boy, Ursa girl and her friend while another was being fought by a team of consisting of Ruby, her sister, Black and Snow White. As for the final Nevermore well… Harry was feeling a bit of pity for it at the moment. Maybe running hadn't been actually necessary if this was how easy it was to deal with them all. Seriously, whatever the hell Kaneki's semblance was, it was literally ripping the Nevermore apart. He did wonder if those tentacles were made of aura or blood though, and which answer would be cooler. Regardless it was effective even without the tiny terror known as Jack casually carving off bits of the bird's flesh while riding on top of it. Add in Mikasa and her frankly amazing ability to maneuver (and fight) in midair using wire and what looked wind dust and it was a downright massacre.

By the time he landed the poor(?) creature was finally put out of its misery and the one's the other two teams were fighting were close to being the same.

' _Was that Ruby running up a sheer cliff face while dragging a Giant Nevermore? Yes, yes it was. And wow sis I didn't know you can use a teenager as a rail gun bullet. I hope Vomit Boy lands ok.'_

* * *

"Russel Thrust. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team CRDL (Cardinal). Lead by Cardin Winchester."

Harry had to repress a snort of disbelief. ' _How the hell did the Cardin of Winchester somehow end up with the team name Cardinal after obtaining the Bishop piece, did Ozpin know about Earth as well or something? Wait if Cardin is here does that mean Joan of Arc is as well?'_

"Jaune Arc."

Harry just stared with dead eyes as Vomit Boy took the stage. Seriously what the hell was up with Remnant?

"Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team JNPR (Junpier). Lead by, Jaune Arc."

Juane looked just as confused by that announcement as Harry though judging by the look on Pyrrha's face he actually deserved the position. Maybe it was his plan that killed their two Nevermores? If so Ozpin has an insane eye for talent and Jaune had a lot of balls letting himself be used as a railgun bullet. This time it was Harry's turn to enter the stage.

"Heracles Nikos. Jack." Harry noted how Jack didn't have a last name but made no verbal mention of it. "Mikasa Ackerman. Kaneki Ken. The four of you retrieved the black queen pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team HJAK (Hijack). Lead by, Heracles Nikos."

Harry arched an eyebrow in surprise wondering how the hell that happened. It wasn't like he actually showed leadership qualities in the forest unless you counted his interactions with Jack. Still there was nothing to do about it and no one else was complaining though Harry wasn't sure Jack would, considering how much she loved her "mommy".

"And Finally. Blake Belladona. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. And Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team RWBY (Ruby). Lead by Ruby Rose."

Another surprise only this time not as well received as Harry's nomination. At least Weiss had the courtesy to not make a scene and voice her displeasure out loud on stage.

"Looks like things are shaping up to be an… interesting year."

Harry waited for the rabble rousing to die down somewhat before making his way to Ozpin, intent on asking the man a few pointed questions. Jack tried to tag along with him but he managed to convince her to stay with Kaneki and Mikasa somehow.

"Headmaster."

"Ah, young mister Nikos. What can I help you with?"

"I have some questions I need answered."

Ozpin gave him a shrewd look. "About young miss Jack I presume?" Harry nodded sharply. "Very well, come along. My office is a better place to discuss such a sensitive topic."

The two walked in silence to Ozpin's office which, unsurprisingly, was located in the school's largest tower. Ozpin was made sure to grab a refill of hot chocolate before he sat down behind his desk and stared at Harry calculatingly.

"Now, what questions might you have mister Nikos?"

"I have several. The most important being why Jack is here at Beacon."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow but said nothing, so Harry decided to elaborate.

"She says she's 15 and I believe her but she acts like a child five years younger than that at best. Jack seems like she's capable enough in combat but I don't see her as having the right mentality to be a Huntress. That's without even considering her…other problems, and I'm not just talking about the mental ones. Why is she here instead of getting professional help?"

Ozpin sipped his hot chocolate as he took a few moments to mull over his response. "How much do you know about young Jack?"

Harry narrowed his eyes slightly at the non-answer but figured that Ozpin was going somewhere with this and decided to answer anyways. "A bit, and I can guess a bit more but Jack is not very good at conveying things in an easily discernable manner." Ozpin hummed non-committedly. "I know that she had a… bad childhood but not much of the details. I know that her 'mommy' left her sometime recently. I believe that you're the one who convinced her to come to Beacon. And… I'm fairly certain she's a serial killer, or was a serial killer at any rate."

That finally caused a reaction from the headmaster as he looked at Harry sharply. "That's quite the claim mister Nikos."

Harry noted that he neither confirmed nor denied his belief as he gave a simple shrug. Ozpin stared at him for several more moments, seemingly tried to see through him to what made him tick.

"Tell me, mister Nikos, if you were to find out the truth about young Jack what would you do?"

"…Nothing to be honest unless I find out that she does need psychiatric help and the reason why she's not getting it at the moment don't make sense."

Ozpin smiled faintly. "You seem remarkably unconcerned about the fact that your partner is potentially a serial killer."

Harry shrugged slightly uncomfortably. "Jacks a good kid despite whatever she might have done. I'm fairly certain that whatever her past actions might have been she herself is not inherently evil just… damaged."

"That was my opinion as well…Take a look at this and then tell me your thoughts." Harry took the Scroll Ozpin was holding out for him and quickly started reading the information on its screen.

 **Abandoned as a baby the girl named Jack was picked up by and raised by her abusive criminal foster father, Alan Beck, for the first five to six years of her life. It's unknown exactly what she endured during that time but it is believed that most of the scar tissue present on her body comes from her time in his care, there is also some evidence of minor sexual abuse but details are few. It is also unknown exactly why her foster father chose to take care of Jack nor is it known why he continued to do so once her condition become known. The only positive influence in those first years of her life was the prostitute that lived next door, a young miss Sharron, who took care of Jack whenever, and as best as, she could, going so far as to shield the young girl from her abuse father with her own body at times.**

 **The date is not known exactly but sometime near the end of January nine years ago Alan Beck murdered miss Sharron right in front of Jack and left both her and the corpse of Sharron locked in a room for a full twenty-four hours. As it was the middle of the winter and the house had poor insulation it is believed that Jack was forced to use the body for warmth that night lest she freeze to death. This is believed to be the source of Jack's initial mental trauma and the reason she hates the cold so much. It is also believed to be the reason for her choice of targets and the way that they were killed. When mister Beck returned the next morning and attempted to kill Jack as well (the reasons for which are unknown) she snatched a knife from him and killed him brutally.**

 **After that incident Jack spent an indeterminate amount of time on the streets where she often took shelter in the rooms of sympathetic members of the area, usually prostitutes. Several of said prostitutes were later reported as murdered during the winter months she spent on the street but said incidents always stopped with the arrival of warmer weather. The exact date is unknown but at some point Jack ended up under the wing of an unknown criminal organization led by a woman Jack only referred to as "mommy". For several years after this Jack was spotted in cities and towns throughout Remnant. Said sightings always corresponded with a least one murder in those locations.**

 **Two months ago Jack was once again spotted, this time in Vale. Unlike before however there were no reported murders that fit the earlier incidents and agents reported Jack wandering around the slums, reportedly trying to find her "mommy". It is believed that, for reasons unknown, Jack has been abandoned by the group that had taken her in sometime prior to these sightings. Upon being questioned Jack proved either unwilling or unable to answer why, simply replying with "mommy left me" when prompted.**

 **It is believed that Jack suffers from a form of depersonalization and dissociate identity disorder as well as a mild form of psychopathy. Her mental age is also lower than her biological age though it is unknown if this is caused by her life growing up or an actual mental impairment. Treatment is recommended but her abilities and behaviors make such an endeavor dangerous and difficult to carry out. A full rehabilitation of Jack is believed to be impossible even with treatment however.**

 **Threat Level: Extreme**

 **Estimated Kill Count: 83 - 107**

Harry put down the Scroll and sighed heavily. "Is this…"

"Accurate? As close as we can get. Most of it is from 2nd or 3rd hand sources and there's a bit of guess work involved but we're fairly certain it's near the truth."

Harry had only one thing to say to that. "Shit."

"Indeed."

"So why is she here in Beacon?"

"hmm… tell me, has your opinion of Jack changed at all after reading that report?"

Harry slowly shook his head. "Not…really. I feel a bit more concerned, especially about those first murders, and a lot more pity but ultimately? No I stand by my opinion."

Ozpin smiled at him after hearing that. "That's my opinion as well mister Nikos. It is my belief that letting Jack experience a… somewhat normal life here at Beacon will do her better than any mental institution. Especially if she was able to bond with people such as yourself."

"I get that but… can she actually handle everything? Not just interacting with others but the actual classwork itself."

"I believe so. I did run her through the standard entrance exam and she managed to pass, albeit with much difficult on the written portions. So she should be able to manage so long as she receives a bit of help."

Harry was a bit surprised. "How'd you get her to take that? For that matter how did you convince her to come to Beacon in the first place? She told me that being a Huntress would let her find her 'mommy', did you trick her into doing it?"

Ozpin waved the comment off. "Nothing quite so underhanded. Jack is quite the sweet girl if you manage to gain her affection, as you yourself know no doubt. All I did is explain all of my reasoning, albeit in a much simpler fashion, and she agreed. I wasn't lying either, Jack's former 'mother' is a person of interest to myself and many others. As such if or when she's brought in I would have let Jack see her again, under secure conditions of course."

Harry felt that Ozpin was telling the truth but was also leaving something out. Unfortunately, he had no way to prove that so he let it go for now.

"Now, do you have any more questions mister Nikos?"

"Just two. What is the medical condition that was briefly mentioned in the report and is there any other student I should know about?"

"Young Jack suffered from the same condition as you did mister Nikos, she was born with a massive amount of aura, too much in fact. Unlike you however her semblance didn't let her correct the complications that brought and as a result her growth was stunted. Her poor diet as a child didn't help matters either."

"So that's why she looks like a twelve-year-old rather than fifteen-year-old?"

"Indeed."

"You still didn't answer my other question."

Ozpin smirked. "Let's just say that your team is the most interesting one Beacon has seen in many years mister Nikos. Now, I think it's time you head back to your team. Have a good night."

Harry could already feel a headache forming, along with an intense desire to punch Ozpin in the face. Somehow he just knew that Team HJAK was the dumping ground for the misfits and monsters. He should know, he was one of them.

* * *

"Right, I feel like we should get to know one another before we bunk down for the night. Classes start early tomorrow and I feel it would be better to get it out of the way before then. It's possible we might have to go through a team exercise or something similar after all and even a small bit of familiarity with each other could help."

All Harry got in response was silence and a few raised eyebrows from his teammates. Jack, for her part, simply stared up at him with vaguely confused eyes from her place on his lap. Harry bit back a sigh at having a team full of anti-social people.

"Right… I guess I'll go first then. As you already know my name is Heracles Nikos but I prefer to be called Harry. My twin sister Pyrrha is on team JNPR. I'm a close combat specialist and my ability to shoot is poor at best. I make up for that with my semblance and ability to manipulate my aura however. My hobbies are reading, people watching, listening to music and making friends. I'm also fairly good at repairing and creating weapons so if you have an issue with yours let me know and I'll help you out. I went to Sanctum Academy prior to coming here and I graduated at the top of my class."

It was a brief little bio of his life but it served the purpose of breaking the ice and letting his team know a bit more about him. The room was silent after his introduction however and it was several seconds before the next person spoke up.

"Name's Ken Kaneki, Kaneki is my given name. I'm also a close combat specialist but I'm fairly decent at shooting at mid-ranges as well. My hobbies also include reading and I like brewing coffee as well as creating masks. I'm not very good at repairing weapons so I might take you up on your offer at some point, though I'm very good when it comes to academic subjects. I didn't attend a Hunter school before Beacon but I have plenty of experience fighting Grimm."

Harry smiled slightly at Kaneki, grateful that he was willing to follow along even if he seemed a bit uncomfortable doing so. Turning to face Mikasa with an expectant look Harry was gratified to see the taciturn girl give her own introduction as well.

"Mikasa Ackerman. Close combat specialist with short ranged shooting ability. I like working out and sparring. I was privately tutored and got in on a recommendation. I'm good at making support equipment."

Short, to the point and said in a flat, cold tone of voice. Harry knew he had his work cut out for him if he wanted Mikasa to ever fully open up to them. Tilting his head down to look at Jack he ruffled the girl's hair, causing her to smile happily.

"And this is Jack. She's also a close combat specialist. She's here after getting an offer from the Wizard of Oz. And before you ask she's fifteen."

Harry decided that it was probably not a good idea to let Jack introduce herself. His revelation about her age got raised eyebrows as did his Wizard of Oz comment but neither deigned to comment. Not even about the fact that Jack's introduction was even less detailed than Mikasa's.

"Right then. Seems like our team is quite heavy on the close combat front but that doesn't seem to matter if initiation was anything to go on." Kaneki gave a small sadistic smirk at that comment, the first sign of real emotion Harry had seen on his face so far. Harry was pleased even if he was slightly worried about how blood thirsty the expression felt, damn it Ozpin.

"First class is at 9 so make sure you wake up before then. I'll be getting up at 5 for my morning workout so I'll be up in time to wake you up if you aren't already. You're also free to join me if you'd like."

Surprisingly enough both Kaneki and Mikasa nodded at that, how convenient.

"Cool. Now, do how do you guys want to set the room up? Any preferences on beds?"

Kaneki and Mikasa shook their heads, Jack didn't. "We're sleeping with mommy!"

Harry could feel his eyebrow twitch at the looks he was getting from his two teammates. "Don't ask… please. And if that's what you want Jack, but you're getting your own bed as well in case you want it later ok."

Jack pouted slightly but nodded her head anyways, appeased by the fact that Harry didn't deny her wish.

"I'll take one of the beds by the window then if you don't mind, Jack can take the one against the wall next to mine I guess."

From there the newly formed team got to unpacking and the room was quickly looking like it was actually lived in. Luckily none of them brought many things with them, Jack didn't have anything beyond a few sets of clothes (of which half were copies of Beacon's uniform), so the room wasn't left feeling too cramped. In fact, the only thing that really took up a lot of space was the number of books that Harry and Kaneki brought with them. The bookshelves over the desks were completely packed once the few books in Mikasa's collection joined them. Harry liked it a lot, as did Kaneki if his slightly nostalgic looking smile was anything to go on.

"I like it." Harry got a nod from everyone else in agreement as they took in the, now more homey feeling, room. "Anyone mind if I take first shower?"

Seeing no one voice any disagreement Harry nodded in thanks, grabbed what he needed and promptly sealed himself in the bathroom. Ten minutes later he was feeling clean, his breath was minty fresh and he was laying in his incredibly comfortable bed. He got a couple of raised eyebrows for his lack of shirt but no other reaction towards his sleeping attire. Not that he would have cared either way, he was more comfortable this way. Ten minutes later he was almost on the verge of falling asleep, until Jack decided to make her presence known. Apparently she had been next in line for the bathroom as she was now dressed in the same cat onesie from last night and was smelling distinctly fruity. Harry said nothing as she burrowed under the covers next to him.

"Goodnight mommy."

"Night Jack."

* * *

"Well… you think we should see if the other teams want to head to class with us?" Harry asked. Shrugs were the only response he got. Why he thought they'd actually say something he wasn't sure. Harry decided that if no else had an opinion he'd just do what he wanted, which meant he proceeded to knock on the door his sister's team was staying in.

"Yes?" It was Jaune, aka Vomit Boy, who answered the door.

"Yo, Jaune right?" The blond nodded his head. "You want to walk to class with us?"

"uh… class?"

Harry deadpanned. "You… do realize that we have class at 9 right?"

Juane paled, Harry sighed and the rest of the people behind Juane scrambled to get ready.

"Ok, get dressed or whatever you need to do, we'll wait for you here. I'm going to make sure team RWBY didn't forget as well." Juane quickly spat out his thanks as he closed the door.

Harry's eyebrow twitched as he saw the amusement in his two more taciturn teammate's eyes. Sighing once again he proceeded to cross the hallway and knock on team RWBY's door, which was quickly answered by Ruby herself.

"Yes? Oh hi Harry, what are you doing here?"

"Hey Little Red. Wanted to see if you and your team wanted to walk to class with us."

Ruby, much like Juane paled.

Once again Harry deadpanned. "You forgot didn't you?"

Ruby nodded her head meekly.

"Well team JNPR did as well so you're not alone in that at least. Go and get your team ready, we'll wait for you here. There's still fifteen minutes until class starts so don't be too worried."

Ruby nodded her head rapidly before slamming the door shut, though that didn't stop Harry from hearing pandemonium break out inside the room. Five minutes later both teams RWBY and JNPR were out in the hallway, fully ready for class.

"Hey Harry, um, thanks for giving us the heads up." Ruby said as they walked towards class, casting discrete glances at him as she did so, or more specifically at Jack who had apparently decided to make being carried on his back a common occurrence.

"No problem, was going to check in with my sister and her team anyways."

"Ahem*" Speaking of his sister there was Pyrrha looking distinctly annoyed with him.

"Hey Pyr what's up."

Pyrrha twitch at the nickname. "Oh you know, nothing much. Just wondering when my brother turned into a sexual deviant."

That got amused snickers from most of the group, though Jack seemed confused and Ruby seemed embarrassed for some reason.

Raising one eyebrow imperiously Harry decided to take out the big guns in relation. "Whatever could be talking about Miss Coconut?"

Pyrrha turned as white as a ghost at the comment much to everyone's confusion this time. "N-Nothing. I was just...That's it! I was just wondering how you and your partner were getting along?"

Let it be said now that Pyrrha was a terrible liar and was very easy to fluster. Harry didn't push the issue however, even if it would have been funny.

"We're getting along great, aren't we Jack?"

Jack nodded cutely. "Yes, mommy is warm."

Harry grinned. "See."

It was readily apparent that the only ones who did see were his sister and, to a lesser extent, Kaneki and Mikasa.

"And how about you Pyr, getting along with Vomit Boy?"

'I have a name you know."

Harry grinned but it was Yang who beat him to the punch. "We know, but until you do something that makes for a better nickname from now on you're Vomit Boy."

Juane groaned in defeat but was quickly comforted by Pyrrha, which caused Harry to raise an eyebrow in surprise. He'd talk to her about it later.

"So I know all your names from when we formed teams, and some of from before that, but I thought I'd introduce myself again anyways. Name's Heracles Nikos, I prefer to go by Harry. I'm also Pyrrha's older twin brother. This here is Jack, say hello Jack."

"Hi." Jack's response was dull, obviously not being all that enthused about the others.

"You're only older my three minutes Harry!"

"Still older than you though."

Pyrrha just sighed. "I'm Pyrrha Nikos, I'm Jaune's partner."

"Jaune Arc."

"Lie Ren."

"Nora!"

"Kaneki."

"Mikasa."

"I'm Yang."

"Ruby!"

"Blake."

"Weiss Schnee."

They all introduced themselves with various amounts of enthusiasm.

"Great, now we're all friends." Harry's comment got bemused/annoyed looks from everyone. He just shrugged in response. No one had further time to comment however as they arrived at class and had to quickly grab seats before the bell rang. The individual teams ended up in each of their own rows with team RWBY on the bottom, team JNPR to their side and Team HJAK above them.

"Monsters! Demons. Prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names but I merely refer to them as prey. Hu-hah!" The room was dead silent as everyone stared at their professor, making him feel a bit awkward.

"uhh, and you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy. Now, as I was saying, Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces. And that's where we come in. Huntsman! Huntresses." Here the professor paused to creepily wink at Yang, much to her visible discomfort.

"Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves. From what you ask? Why, the very world!"

"Eyyyeaahhh!"

The whole class turned to stare at the one random student who stood up to cheer out loud. He was quick to duck back down in embarrassment.

"That is what you are training to become. But first, a story. A tale of a young, handsome, man. Me! When I was a boy…"

Harry promptly stopped paying attention to the professor at that point, not eager at all to listen to the man drone on about his life story. No one was for the matter. As he had also already copied down the notes form the blackboards, which were actually full of useful information, he had nothing to do so he decided to amuse himself by petting Jack's head. Said girl hadn't bothered taking any notes or even taking a seat, having opted to pop herself on his lap as soon as he had taken a seat. She had amused herself by humming and kicking her legs back and forth up until Professor Port degraded into his monologue, at which point she was close to falling asleep. As soon as Harry started absentmindedly stroking her hair she lost the fight to stay awake completely.

Harry found it amusing watching the various ways everyone was keeping themselves entertained through Port's talking. Pyrrha was playing with metal sand, working on her semblance control by forming it into various shapes. Jaune was… sewing? Weird. Ren was sleeping, Nora was poking him with a stick (literally). Blake was reading smut, classy smut but smut none the less. Yang was doing her hair while occasionally reading over Blake's shoulder. Weiss was… actually paying attention? That was weirder than anything else to be honest. And finally Ruby was skipping all over the place, switching between doodling, making faces and preforming rather impressive feats of balancing with various school supplies.

"The moral of this story? A true huntsman must be honorable. A true huntsman must be dependable. A trust huntsman must be strategic, well educated, and wise. So… who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

"I do sir!" Harry wasn't surprised at Weiss' response, nor at how quickly she gave it.

"Well then, let's find out. Step forward and face your opponent."

Just why professor port had decided to make Weiss face off against a Boarbatusk when he was supposed to be teaching a basic Grimm studies course Harry wasn't sure. You'd think he do a demonstration on how to fight one first at least considering this was the first class of the semester. Weiss at least looked like she needed one considering she decided to fight it head on when her main weapon was a rapier. Tactics thy name is not Weiss. It was nice seeing how supportive her team was at least, even if Weiss herself didn't seem to appreciate it that much. He could tell she was going to have another blow up, which meant he should probably go after her and Ruby.

* * *

"Weiss!"

"What?"

"What's wrong with you? Why are you being-"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You're supposed to be a leader and all you've been so far is a nuisance."

"What did I do?"

"That's just it, you've done nothing to earn your position. Back in the forest you acted like a child and you've only continued to do so."

"Weiss where is this coming from? What happened to all the talk about working together? I thought you believed in acting as a team."

"Not a team lead by you." The silence was almost painful after that comment. "I've studied and trained, and quite frankly, I deserve better. Ozpin made a mistake."

Weiss walked off at that point leaving Ruby alone feeling hurt, which Harry decided was a good a time as any to step in.

"Don't listen to Snow White, Little Red. She's wrong."

Ruby looked up, startled by his sudden presence, though that quickly faded as her depression beat it back.

"But…"

"She's wrong Ruby. It hasn't even been a full day since you've been assigned as a leader. That is hardly an adequate amount of time to determine your competency. Weiss is… a difficult person who had a complicated life. Despite how she acts sometimes however she is a good person, it's just that gets buried under her bitchiness occasionally. She'll come around eventually."

Ruby giggled at that rather apt description of her partner.

"So you don't think Ozpin made a mistake then?"

Harry snorted. "If there's one thing I'm certain of its that the Wizard of Oz doesn't make mistakes like that. Besides even if it somehow was a mistake all you need to do is make sure that it being a mistake doesn't matter. If you don't think you're a leader at the moment then work towards becoming one, it's that simple."

"Thanks Harry." Harry waved it off. "Why do you call Ozpin that by the way?"

Harry grew a sly grin. "That's a secret Little Red. Come on Jack, we need to get to class."

Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin when Jack seemed to appear out of nowhere behind her.

"Yes mommy."

"Make sure you're not late Ruby."

As Harry and Jack walked away, skipped in the case of Jack, they passed by Ozpin. No words were said but Harry could tell the headmaster was grateful for what he did for Ruby, which was a point in his favor. It looked like he was going to give his own little speech to Ruby anyways though. Harry wondered if this was common for the man or if Ruby was special, beyond the fact that she had been admitted a couple years early that is.

The next class on their schedule was a physical training class, held in the workout room. Apparently after the first few weeks it would be more of a free work out period where the professor was there more for advice than to actually teach, which was interesting. As it was, for the first day all the professor did was go over the specific machines in the gym, several of which even Harry hadn't seen before, along with an overview of what kinds of routines fit general styles of combat. It was informative even if Harry, along with several other students, already knew most of what was said but it was definitely a better class than Port's. As class periods went for two hours each at Beacon by the end of class it was time for their lunch break.

"What do you want to eat Jack? Got any favorite foods?"

Jack put a finger to her lower lip and adopted a cute thinking pose, causing a few of the other students in the cafeteria to actually squeal at the sight.

"We like squishy food."

Harry chuckled awkwardly. "Ok, luckily Jello is one of the deserts they offer. How about a main dish? You want a sandwich? Burger? Salad?"

"We'll have whatever mommy is having."

"Right… well ok then."

In the end he decided to play it safe and get a bit of a mix of food, consisting of a burger, assorted fruits, bread and a cup of Jello. He didn't actually like Jello but he'd just give it to Jack if she did. Luckily, despite it being crowded, they managed to find seats thanks to Kaneki saving some for them, though one went to waste considering Jack hopped onto his lap again. Joining them at the table was Team RWBY, minus Weiss, and Team JNPR. The 11 teens ate their food in companionable silence, except for Nora who wouldn't stop going on about the glory of pancakes. It was adorable in a slightly annoying way. Jack, as it turned out, quite liked the oranges he got her and absolutely loved the Jello. The burger and loaf of broad would have likely been left half eaten however were it not for Jack's upbringing and need for a large amount of calories, she didn't seem to enjoy them all that much.

"So… Weiss is avoiding you I take it?"

Team RWBY jerked slightly before reluctantly nodding.

"hmm, she's likely off trying to work herself up to apologizing. It'll probably take until late afternoon though, Weiss is odd like that."

Team RWBY exchanged looks before Yang spoke up, somehow having been designed their spokesperson.

"So… I take it you know Weisscream then?"

Harry snorted, almost chocking on his juice. "Do you really call Snow White that?"

Yang grinned unrepentantly and shrugged her shoulders.

"Bet she's not happy about that. And yeah you could say that. We've met more than a few times, though she'd deny ever being friends with me."

"Why's that? You too Harry for her?"

Everyone groaned at her bad pun.

"Really? Are awful puns your thing?" A happy nod of Yang's head was the only response he got. "Joy… and it's because Weiss is the textbook example of a Tsundere."

Team RWBY, plus Pyrrha, snorted at that.

"You sure it's not because of all the pranks you pulled on her bro?"

Harry smirked. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Pyrrha looked at him with dull eyes. "There's the time you died her entire family's hair pink." Yang started cracking up at that. "Then there's the time you glued a pair of cat ears to her head." This time it was Blake that started cracking up. "There's also the time that you… what did you call it again? 'decorated' the Schnee's private art gallery with her father's underwear, or at least the garments you claimed were his underwear." That was the final straw and everyone bar Harry and Pyrrha started dying of laughter at that point, even Kaneki and Misaka in their own muted fashion, Harry just grinned smugly.

"Good times. And I swear on my dogfather's grave that those were his. Just ask the Nargles. It's not my fault people find it so unlikely for Jacques Schnee has some rather… risqué tastes in underclothes."

Yang looked like she was about to die, as did Blake. Pyrrha on the other hand was looking distinctly unamused.

"And you wonder why we're no longer on the VIP list for the SDC, I'm just surprised he didn't blacklist us, or at the very least you."

"That's the beauty of it my dear sister, he couldn't do that. The bad press that banning the Invincible Girl or her handsome older brother from his company's products wouldn't have been good for business."

"You keep calling yourself my older brother but you always act like a younger one. Are you sure mitéra didn't drop you on the head as a child?"

Harry mocked getting hit in the heart. "Your words wound me Pyr."

Jack giggled in his lap at his over-exaggerated acting. The sound was quite delightful and caused Harry to smile down at her warmly and ruffle her hair, much to her pleasure. The group slowly calmed down after that and dissolved into idle small talk amongst themselves. For his part Harry mostly kept out of the conversation, opting instead to just listen in while engaging in his hobby of people watching, taking note of any students that stood out. There weren't many, only about seven teams not including those at his table. One of which was another team from their year. Appearances weren't everything of course but they certainly did make people look more interesting. Thanks to his people watching he managed to see something that displeased him greatly, bullying. Why the fuck people just couldn't leave Faunus alone he didn't know.

Subtly, so as to not attract attention, he palmed his knife and used his Semblance on it. Jack noticed of course due to sitting on his lap but no one else did. Not even when, with a quick flick of his wrist, he launched the knife into the loose cloth of the guy's pants, right next to his crotch. That'll teach him to keep his hands to himself. The fact that he found the guys horrified face quite funny was a nice side benefit, as was seeing the girl whose ears he had been pulling deck him in the face.

Of course the resounding slap echoed loudly in the cafeteria, which drew a lot of attention to the dog Faunus and the bully, much to the girl's embarrassment. Everyone went back to eating fairly quickly however, completely ignoring the issue once it was shown that there would be no interesting follow up. Lunch ended five minutes later and it was time for the third class of the day, history with Doctor (not Professor!) Ooblek. The class was as bad as Port's though in a different way. Mainly in that it was neigh impossible to follow the man as he acted like a crack head chipmunk that had just gotten zapped by lightning. The man's frantic bouncing around as he lectured, and drank several bottles of coffee, left more than one Student's eyes spinning.

The class after that, and their final one for the day, was combat training led by Glynda Goodwitch herself and, luckily, it was much, much better than the Port's and Ooblek's. Not only was Goodwitch a good teacher but the class itself was interesting as well, it even taught him some new things. Goodwitch reminded him a lot of a younger McGonagall, actually Beacon was showing a lot of similarities with Hogwarts. Two substandard classes, one average class and one great class on the first day. If the trend continued there would be another substandard class, two more average classes and another great one tomorrow since Beacon ran on an alternating class schedule.

As it turned out that prediction proved to be spot on. The survival training course was substandard, the aura studies and weapon handling courses were average and the group tactics course was superb. Nothing of note happened on that day however beyond Weiss being present with her team and, somehow, being less bitchy than before. There was also a minor incident involving Jack, a handful of knives and a broccoli. Apparently the tiny terror was _not_ a fan of vegetables. She absolutely loved fish however, as well as tea when he thought to offer it to her finally. He should have guessed that Jack would have a refined English palate much like he himself. Still, no one could quite look at Jack the same after dinner that night. At least she and Ruby seemed to have struck up an odd friendship somehow. Considering Jack didn't even like Pyrrha that much, and she's technically her "aunt", that was quite surprising. Maybe it was because they were the same age? Or maybe Ruby laced her cookies with some good stuff? It was a mystery.

"What are you doing mommy?"

Harry looked up from his Scroll to the sight of Jack staring at him in curiosity, once again decked out in her cat onesie pajamas. While it was adorable Harry couldn't help but think the only reason why she wore it three nights in a row now was because she had nothing else to wear rather than personal preference, he'd have to fix that.

"I was looking into creating a training schedule for our team along with teams RWBY and JNPR. I wanted to look into full four on four practice matches against them at some point."

Jack just hummed in slight disinterest as he popped herself onto Harry's lap, an act which had become so common Harry no longer needed to consciously move his hand to start stroking her hair. Jack had no complaints to this development of course and Harry himself couldn't be bothered to particularly care.

"Say Jack, do you want to go shopping with me this weekend. I couldn't help but notice you don't really have many of your own things."

Jack tilted her head back to look at him with curious blinking eyes before a happy grin appeared on her face. "Yes! Thank you mommy."

"No problem Jack. Do you mind if I invite the others as well?"

Jack frowned lightly, not looking terribly happy with the idea, but shook her head none the less. Harry ruffled her hair to cheer her up.

"I know you don't really like people Jack but it's good to make friends other than me. You like Ruby well enough don't you?"

Jack's expression brightened up a little bit at that. "Yes. Ruby makes nice cookies. We really like them."

"See. The others are nice too you know, you just need to give them a chance."

"Ok mommy…"

Harry smiled softly at her before scooping her up into his arms as he got to his feet, causing her to make a slight startled noise. He then proceeded to place her onto his shoulders, forcing her to grab onto his hair in order to keep from falling. It was quite amusing watching her pout at him once she steadied herself, her pulling his hair in relation though, not so much. Neither Kaneki nor Mikasa were in the room currently, both having gone off to do their own things after class, so that left asking the other team's first. Padding down the hallway he decided to ask Team RWBY first, mostly because Jack had a slightly better relationship with them than team JNPR.

"Yes who is it?"

"It's Harry and Jack, Ruby."

Ruby opened the door a few seconds later, looking like she was about to greet him enthusiastically before she caught sight of them. Harry hadn't seen someone go that red before, not since the Weasleys at any rate. He couldn't quite tell if she was just that innocent, that interested or the sight of Jack in her onesie was that adorable. Maybe a bit of all three?

"H-H-Hi, Harry. W-What's up?"

"I just wanted to know if you and your team want to come with me and Jack to Vale on the weekend? Jack doesn't have many possessions and I decided that a shopping trip was in order."

As if he had said the magic words, which in a sense 'shopping trip' were, Yang appeared at the door way as if she had just teleported.

"Did someone say shopping?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Yes. I was going to go shopping in Vale for clothes for Jack amongst other things and was wondering if anyone else wanted to tag along."

"My, my. Good body, a sense of humor, a killer bod and taking me out on a shopping trip. It's like you're trying to seduce me mister Nikos."

Harry deadpanned at her. "I'm not paying for anyone other than Jack."

Yang pouted until she caught sight of Jack on his shoulders. Harry had all of a split second to register the slight widening of her eyes before a near deafening squeal ripped out of her throat and Jack somehow appeared in Yang's arms, looking annoyed as she was smothered by the older girl's breasts.

"Oh my gosh! You're sooo adorable. Blake, Weisscream you have to see her!"

"Don't call me that! And what are…"

All of the sudden another two loud squeals echoed in the hallway as Jack was now being smothered by three separate pairs of breasts. Ruby sighed, looking quite embarrassed, while Harry was torn between face palming and feeling bemused. In the end he decided on the latter and simply stood back and watched the goings on. For the next minute Jack was smothered (both literally and figuratively) with affection from the three older girls of team RWBY. Jack seemed to shut down at some point and turn into an emotionless doll rather than deal with the annoyance of her situation, though her eyes kept looking at him pleadingly. Harry eventually decided to take pity on his partner.

"Alright, alright, break it up. My partner appears to be suffering an acute case of suffocation by boob and I'd rather she not die for a very long time thank you very much."

His comment got some pouts, and glares, but he shrugged them off as Jack scrambled over to him as if he was the only safe harbor in the middle of a storm.

"So. When are you planning on going this weekend?" Yang asked after Jack was once again firmly on his shoulders.

"Saturday around ten in the morning. That way we can grab some lunch in Vale and have time to get everything we need." Harry replied.

"Great. See you then." Yang said before she went back into the room, followed by Weiss and Blasé after they gave the same acknowledgement. Which just left Ruby.

"Uh H-Harry?" Ruby stuttered.

Raising an eyebrow Harry looked at the little reaper. "Yes Ruby?"

"W-Want to…would you like to go to some weapon shops with me?" Ruby eventually stuttered out, her face almost glowing it was so red.

Harry's other eyebrow quickly joined its fellow. He was honestly surprised Ruby had not only managed to muster up the courage to ask for what seemed to be a date but that she was interested in a date at all. They hadn't really known each other for long after all. Still, such courage deserved an answer and it wasn't like he didn't think she was cute or fun to hang out with.

"Sure Ruby, sounds like fun. I can't promise that Jack won't come with us though."

Ruby's face brightened up like a light bulb at the first half but then grew slightly disappointed for the latter.

"Ah, t-that's fine. It's not like it's a date or anything." She rambled out trying to cover the awkwardness.

Harry took pity on her. "Ruby it's not like I'm not interested. I'll try but Jack is…Jack and I can't leave her with someone else if she doesn't want it."

Ruby brithened back up some at that but not to the initial level she had been at. "I understand Harry and it's fine. I told you it's not a date so she can come if she wants."

Harry smiled at her and ruffled her hair, causing her to squawk in indignation, as he turned to leave.

"See you tomorry Ruby, sleep well."

"Y-You too Harry." Ruby got out before she slammed the door forcefully. Not ten seconds laughter Harry heard the sound of excited squealing, embarrassed crying and much teasing from Team RWBY's room. He couldn't help but shake his head slightly in amusement, causing Jack to tug on his hair when his actions almost dislodged her.

"Sorry Jack."

Jack said nothing as she pouted, still upset from being treated like a plush toy.

"I know you didn't like it but you are utterly adorable so I don't blame them. I'm tempted to do that myself on occasion." Harry admitted wryly.

Jack stopped pouting at that as her cheeks grew a very faint pink color at his remarks.

"It's ok mommy. We forgive you."

"Thanks Jack." Harry replied with a smile before he turned and knocked on Team JNPR's door.

It didn't take long for it to be opened by his sister.

"Hey Harry what's up?" She asked him taking in the adorable form of Jack as she did so with much more calm than Team RWBY.

"Just wanted to know if you and the rest of your team want to go into Vale with me, Jack and Team RWBY. Jack doesn't have a lot of possessions and I wanted to get her some, especially some more clothes."

Phyrra's eye twitched slightly as she thought of Jack's "clothes". "That's a great plan Harry. I'm sure the everyone will like to come. When are we meeting up?"

"Saturday, ten am at the Bullhead port." Harry replied easily.

"Alright see you then, I need to get back to helping Juane study." She said as she immediately started closing the door, giving Harry only a small window of time in which to say good night.

Harry couldn't help but stare at the door in amusement before looking up at Jack.

"She totally has a crush on him."

Jack looked at him quizzically, making him realize she likely didn't know what he was talking about… was he going to have to give her the talk? Oh god please no…He didn't really mind talking about that stuff but he could easily see Jack doing some extremely embarrassing things, like giving herself "real life examples" of what he told her. Maybe Phyrra or someone from RWBY will do it? Mikasa doesn't seem like the type to do anything but take pleasure from his torture.

"Do…you know about relationships and the differences between girls and boys Jack?" He had to ask even as he prayed for her to answer yes. His prayers were in vain as all Jack did was tilt her head at him in confusion. It was going to a long and uncomfortable night tomorrow, he just…couldn't deal with that right now. Harry almost cried as he trudged back to his and Jack's room as he already imagined the awkwardness that was to come. All the while Jack continued to look at him in adorable confusion, wondering why their mommy was acting so weird.

 **AN: Jack is Jack the Ripper from fate/apocrypha, Kaneki is from Tokyo Ghoul and Mikasa from Attack on Titan if you didn't catch that. I thought about adding him to Team RWBY but thought that'd be too bland as it's been done for many a crossover (as in the MC from the other series being added. I'm thinking of making this a multi pairing when I get around to continuing this story.** _I wo_


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